Whoa, easy on the caps man! Writing in all caps is almost as bad as writing with no punctuation.
BTW: Yes, you proably are losing power. How big are the dents? Also, it's a header, not headers. You only got one, right? =)
A new intake would mean $$... If you got enough laying around to spend on a brand new one, go ahead, but I wouldn't get a bypass valve... there really is no practical use for it. It's just something AEM sells to make extra money from those who don't know any better.
Edit: Tim, you got to him before I did... =) We practically said the exact same thing too... lol
-Ep